Translanguaging as a space of simultaneity: Theorizing translanguaging pedagogies in English medium schools from a spatial perspective

• Published in: The Modern language journal (Boulder, Colo.) Vol. 107; no. 1; pp. 289 - 307
• Main Author: Phyak, Prem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Wiley 01.03.2023; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Classroom Environment; Classroom observation; Classrooms; Code Switching (Language); English (Second Language); English as a medium of instruction; English for academic purposes; Epistemology; Ethnography; Foreign Countries; language ideology; Language of Instruction; Language policy; Language Usage; Learner Engagement; Linguistic identity; Multilingualism; Public Schools; social space; Student Diversity; Students; Teachers; thirdspace; Translanguaging; Translation; Nepal
• ISSN: 0026-7902; 1540-4781
• DOI: 10.1111/modl.12830

This article theorizes translanguaging as a space of simultaneity to analyze how teachers use translanguaging to create a multilingual classroom space and engage students with their multilingual identities and epistemologies in the classroom. The data in this article are drawn from an ethnographic study of language policies and practices in a public school in the hills of eastern Nepal. The analysis of classroom anecdotes, observation notes, and interviews with teachers reveals that translanguaging reconfigures the classroom as a critical social space where students’ identities are recognized as multilingual and multiepistemic beings representing their home, community, and school spaces. I argue that translanguaging pedagogies should pay attention to connecting the perceived, conceived, and lived spaces of students to help them resist unequal pedagogies and reclaim their identities as multilingual and multiepistemic subjects. The findings of the study imply that a spatial perspective on translanguaging helps teachers expand the scope of translanguaging pedagogies to transform a monolingualized institutional space as a space of simultaneity that embraces multilingual language practices, transformative ideologies, and the lived experiences of students.